LONDON – New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo minced no words in describing his team’s sixth straight loss – a 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.

“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said. “We talk about what makes a strong football team and that is the ability to run the ball, stop the run and cover kicks. We didn’t do any of that.”

The Patriots took a 10-0 lead and then fell apart. They totaled 38 rushing yards, allowed 171 rushing yards as Jacksonville ran 16 times in a row at one point, and allowed a 96-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the second quarter.

As of Sunday, the Patriots had won 59 straight games — dating back to 2017 — by a margin of 10 points or more, according to ESPN Research.

Some players said after the game that Mayo’s criticism was no surprise as he told them the same thing in the locker room after the game.

“Coach Mayo is not going to come in here and tell you anything he didn’t tell us in the locker room,” said rookie quarterback Drake Maye, who was one of the team’s bright spots after going 26 of 37 for 276 yards and two touchdowns. “He always preaches about being tough. I think he does a great job of getting the message across to us and the guys know it.”

Maye reported that Jonathan Jones, a nine-year veteran cornerback, also delivered a message to the players in the locker room, saying they all needed to “find something” and “man up” because “what we do is not good enough”.

Senior linebacker Jahlani Tavai agreed with Mayo’s assessment.

“He said it well and we could look in the mirror and understand what he was saying,” Tavai said. “If we’re okay with being soft, some people will fall away, and the rest of us who want to prove we’re wrong will step in and make sure something like this doesn’t happen.”

Veteran tight end Hunter Henry added: “That wasn’t what we wanted to be at all. That wasn’t the identity we wanted to be.”

The Patriots (1-6), who return home to face the New York Jets next Sunday, have fallen short since opening the regular season with a 16-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Mayo said he was “not sure” what caused the Patriots to become a “soft” team.

“I have to think about that,” Mayo said. “We have a long way back ahead of us. It’s not like we suddenly did something different and now we’re a soft football team. It’s just the mentality we need to get the boys to win again.”

The Patriots had seven different starting units on offense – a result of injuries and ineffective play – which may have contributed to some of their difficulties running the ball.

On defense, they were missing defensive tackle Christian Barmore (blood clot), linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (torn pectoral muscle) and safety Jabrill Peppers (commissioner’s exempt list), but players say that’s no excuse for their disappointing play against the run.

And this is the second week in a row that special teams have let them down, after Houston successfully challenged them on six kickoff returns last week.

“We have to take this personally,” said Tavai, who plays on the punt coverage unit. “This can’t happen. This is unacceptable.”

Mayo, in his first year after taking over for Bill Belichick, admitted that a “soft team” was affecting him and his staff.

“First it starts with me,” Mayo said. “It’s just about the mentality of having a strong football team again. I just have to do a better job.”